Friday, 20 October 2006

Well, the 'small green' was really tasty even if I had no idea what the hell it was. Moon told me that she was seeing her sister over that weekend and that she would ask what the name was in English - she came back on Monday and said something which sounded completely bizarre (Actually it sounded something like 'amberguinesssmall') and then looked at me expectantly. After about three attempts at communicating this mystifying phrase I finally worked out that she thought she was speaking English and that she expected me to understand what it was she was saying. (Sometimes in a fit of optimism, or exasperation, she says something in Thai which she thinks I may understand - that is why I didn't immediately work out that she was trying to say something in English). I want to add here that I didn't even know that what she was trying to say corresponded to the 'small green' since we had eaten them and she had nothing to point at - it wasn't till she mimed eating that I worked out that she was attempting to tell me what they were. (It was first thing on a Monday morning and I am not at my brightest and best in the morning as you know). Anyway she moved from 'amberguinesssmall' to 'eggypantsmall' which is when I worked out what they are. They are.........wait for it..........baby aubergines. No, they don't look like aubergines (As you can see I found a picture) and no they don't taste like aubergines but apparently that that is what they are (Incase you are wondering 'eggypantsmall' turned out to be small eggplant which is American for aubergine - Phew!!!!)

Our stuff arrived last Tuesday (Halleluiah) we now have glasses, cups and everything. Actually there were 67 boxes and I thought poor Moon was about to have a heart attack as her lovely clean, neat kitchen turned into a bomb site. When we were unpacking I seriously thought I might have to kill her - I was putting things in cupboards and she was taking them out and putting them in other cupboards. For example (ohh....you just know I am about to rant) I put the coffee in the cupboard next to the coffee machine (one of my rare sensible moments) and she took it out and put it in a cupboard at the other end of the kitchen - miles away (Ok I might be exaggerating slightly here) from the coffee machine. I then spent ages trying to explain why having wooden spoons next to the cooker was better than having them in a drawer in the dining room and that having the spice rack on the work top is a lot easier than having it on the top shelf of a cupboard that we both need steps to reach (No I don't know why she wanted to put it there - she uses the spices as well - it is a mystery). Anyway, we got there in the end - which really means that the coffee is next to the coffee machine, the spoons are next to the cooker, the spices are on the work top and I can't find anything else in my bloody kitchen :-).

Whilst Moon and I were fighting about where things should go in the kitchen it had started to rain - and I mean rain. I was supposed to be going to a wine tasting that evening and it wasn't till I got a call from my friend that I looked out the window and discovered that what used to be the street below was now a small river (You know it's bad when even the call of wine is not enough to entice me out the apartment). I phoned Chris and warned him that our soi was flooded - the conversation went something like this 'Well, how deep is it?' 'I don't know I’m inside the apartment' (He really does ask daft questions sometimes) 'Well can you go and look’. I dutifully toddled outside to the balcony and watched a few people wade up the soi - went back in and called him. 'It looks like it's about mid calf' 'What do you mean it looks like about mid calf? Did you go down to the Soi and have a look?' 'No.....it's raining. I looked from the balcony and watched people wade along the Soi' 'Well, get your butt downstairs and look at the Soi'. I went outside.....looked at the Soi.....watched people wade up the Soi - called him back and said 'It looks like it's about mid calf'. (What did he want from me!!) He turned up about 40 minutes later with his suit trousers rolled up to his knees wearing a pair of blue plastic flip flops that were about three sizes too small for him (Moon and I supportively burst out laughing).

Then there was the power cut. I was out at (Please don't laugh) belly dancing (Yes, I do know that you now have a wobbling image of me that you never really wanted) and was on my way home when there was yet another almighty storm only this one was an all singing all dancing thunder and lightning storm (Sheet and Forked) and it looked like it was right above our apartment building. Actually it was right above our apartment building and when I got to the lift I discovered that there was no power. I had to walk up eight flights of stairs to an apartment with no air conditioning and no cold water so I was back to the attractive red and sweaty look (I'm hoping it will catch on but am not going to hold my breath). Chris was lucky that by the time he got home the power had been restored but we've had problems with our internet connection ever since (hence the reason that I have not written for a while).

We have also managed to get our maid drunk (I am sure there are probably laws against that). I decided to cook a meal for Chris's Birthday and made a lamb tangine followed by pavlova (Moon had never even seen meringue before and was convinced it was the same as ice-cream till it went into the oven) - She had said that she liked Farang food and decided that she would just have what we were having. I had got a nice bottle of wine to go with the meal so when I poured the wine I asked her if she wanted some. She had a tiny splash in the bottom of a glass (It really was a tiny splash - not even quarter of a glass) but when I went back into the kitchen to get the pavlova she was completely hammered!! She was staggering about the kitchen grinning from ear to ear whilst telling me that Farang wine was not the same as Thai wine. She was so funny - all we could hear was her giggling from the kitchen and every time I went in to make sure she was ok she gave me a big cuddle and told me that she was 'Maw maw' which is Thai for drunk. We ended up giving her two bottles of water and packing her off to bed - we could hear her giggling all the way to her room. She said to me the next day that she couldn't wait to tell her sister that she had tried 'Madam's wine' and it had made her 'Maw maw'.

Anyway, that is the latest update from sunny (well, sometimes rainy) Bangkok

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About Me

You are now entering the weird and wonderful world of Carol Burns where flights take you into outer space, DNA floats above your head and people talk in colours.
Carol is an artist and illustrator well known for her slightly strange line drawings, her acrylic paintings using gold/silver/copper leaf and her Illustrated Family Tree/Family Home pieces.